bare knuckle fight/contests still go on and is as big now as ever atracting a big crowd and big bets 2 especialy in the travler/gypsy familys sorting out disputes or just 2 make a living and see who,s the best men in thair familys iv witnessed and reffed many of thease fights but 2 be honest its never ever a public fight its kept real quiet but lads please dont get what im talking about mixed up with all thease so called travler/gypsy idiots on youtube talking crap 2 other familys im talking about real men fighting not the vilage idiot the crowd is family friends or people in the no but no 1 outside the sport would ever be let in to watch unless they was invited and ok,d by a fighter or again some 1 in the no but it is never put out on posters enviting just any 1 to come watch so im not sure what kind of fight this is i do no of a coupple of mma guys that take part but oviasly i cant say keep us posted on if its going ahead though sounds interesting but dont possibly no how they could pull it off

Who decides on legality - I'm pretty certain that UK MMA is still technically illegal as a non sanctioned full contact combat sport but it's part of society now and pretty much unstoppable. What if the MMA is then bare knuckle, or becomes Vale Tudo> or what if kickboxing uses MMA gloves, or what if the bare knuckle Vale Tudo event happens to have two guys who only stand up and punch. It's a real grey area isn't it?

I'm pretty certain that UK MMA is still technically illegal as a non sanctioned full contact combat sport but it's part of society now and pretty much unstoppable.

Things don't have to be sanctioned to be legal in the UK. Organisations like the BBBofC don't have any backing in law, they're just the biggest/most legit fish. MMA is in no way illegal.

Originally Posted by Will Samuelson

What if the MMA is then bare knuckle, or becomes Vale Tudo> or what if kickboxing uses MMA gloves, or what if the bare knuckle Vale Tudo event happens to have two guys who only stand up and punch. It's a real grey area isn't it?

There's a long standing principal in common law that any un-gloved punch is an assault. It's not been put to the test any time recently, though, with respect to organised contests.

Ultimately the limit on what you can organise in a combat sports way is how badly you'll get sued/how likely you are to go down for manslaughter if things go south.

How can anyone call themselves a real MMAer if they haven't fought bare-knuckle at least once? If it's good enough for Royce Gracie!!

Ok I know a bit about this particular event and have also nominated two fighters to go down to it.

Just to reply to a few points:

Bare knuckle boxing is not illegal as long as both parties agree rules and follow them. By breaking the rules and hurting your opponent you have inflicted damage that was not agreed to, therefor it could lead to an assault charge (technically)

Local police have advised that if such an event was to take place then it should be on private land only or else public order offences will be committed.

Private land must then meet requirements of local bye-laws for crowds, etc ie fire safety regs, etc

Bare knuckle boxing is being sanctioned currently by a few bodies one of which is the wbba - wold bare knuckle boxing association.

'Sanctioning' in the UK has absolutely nothing to do with legality. Sanctioning is merely a stamp of approval by a body that recognises the event and that their own rules are being contested under.

Sanctioned BKB is a far cry from travellar fights on a camp site. I have a BKB exhibition bout on a major show of mine this year - both fighters will be wearing traditional 3/4 breeches, leather wraps (yes, even in BKB wraps are permitted) and they will fight to 6x3mins. Not like some stuff you see on youtube.

Sanctioned BKB is trying to relaunch the traditional old prize fight days and wants to get recognised as boxing is still a dominant world combat sport (for now), but old rules will give fight fans something else to watch.

I think it's important that athletes in other combat sports like MMA, boxing, thai, etc, refrain from any form of snobbery or looing down on it as not so long ago MMA was in this very position with its knockers, people. It cock-fighting and barbaric, etc, how wrong there. BKB is simply just another outlet for people to explore. World famous thaiboxing legend John Wayne-Parr is doing recognised caged muay thai, and fighting in MMA gloves is similar to the wraps that the BKB bodies are implimenting.